The Young Turks (TYT) is an American progressive and left-wing populist sociopolitical news and commentary program live streamed on social media platforms YouTube and Twitch, and additionally selected television channels. TYT serves as the flagship program of the TYT Network, a multi-channel network of associated web series focusing on news and current events. TYT covers American politics, wars and conflicts around the world, sports, pop culture, and a wide array of other topics. The program was created by Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Dave Koller in 2002. Co-hosted by Uygur and Ana Kasparian, it is also often accompanied by various other in-studio contributors.
The Young Turks began as a radio program that premiered on February 14, 2002, on Sirius Satellite Radio before launching a web series component in 2005 on YouTube, and then later Twitch; at some point it was also carried on Air America. In addition to being carried on Twitch and YouTube, it is available on Amazon Prime Direct, iTunes, Hulu, Roku, and on social media platforms Instagram, Facebook, and X. It has spawned two spin-off television series, one airing on Current TV from 2011 to 2013 and a second which debuted on Fusion in 2016 as a limited-run program developed to cover the 2016 United States presidential election. The Young Turks also served as the subject of a documentary, entitled Mad as Hell, which was released in 2014. The network has a channel on YouTube TV.
For most of its existence, TYT relied on small grassroots financial contributions from its viewership to sustain itself as an independent news organization. However, in 2017 TYT sought to expand its media network and hire more staff through various venture capital fundraising efforts which raised $20 million. The Young Turks is the second longest-running online news and politics talk show (after The Alex Jones Show started in 1999).
Format The Young Turks live streams for up to three hours, with its story selection and associated commentary broken up by format. Issues that the show focuses on include national political news, the influence of money in the political process, drug policy, social security, the privatization of public services, climate change, the influence of religion, abortion and reproductive rights, civil rights and issues of injustice towards people of color and sexual minorities, sexual morality, and the influence of corporations, neutrality and establishment political thought on traditional news media. The program maintains a liberal/progressive ideology in its political commentary. Co-creator and host Cenk Uygur describes himself as an "independent progressive" and asserts that the show is aimed at the "98 percent 'not in power'" and what he describes as the 60 percent of Americans who hold progressive views.
The two-hour main show is usually hosted by Uygur and Ana Kasparian, with a rotating cast of other 'progressive' co-hosts, including John Iadarola, Jayar Jackson, and more. The first hour usually focuses on American politics, foreign policy and breaking news headlines. The second hour generally provides social commentary on a wide range of topics, both domestic and foreign. The program also features a post-game show, in which Uygur and Kasparian discuss their personal lives. Uygur has regular bits and on-air interaction with other staff members who create and run the show, including among others Jesús Godoy, Dave Koller, Jayar Jackson and Steve Oh.
Each Friday, The Young Turks features a panel of guests from the worlds of politics, journalism, pop culture, sports and comedy – dubbed the "TYT Power Panel" – that is led by Uygur and John Iadarola in the first hour, and Ugyur and/or Jayar Jackson in the second hour. Along with Iadarola and Jackson, other fill-in hosts and recurring guests include series co-creator/contributor Ben Mankiewicz, television personality Brian Unger, Becca Frucht, Brett Erlich, Wes Clark Jr., Michael Shure, Cara Santa Maria, RJ Eskow, Gina Grad, Samantha Schacher, and Jayde Lovell.
Production
The Young Turks is broadcast in a two-to-three hour live stream format, which airs Monday through Fridays at 3:00 p.m. Pacific Time. The program was originally based out of the living room of creator/host Cenk Uygur, but it moved production to a small office in Los Angeles after the show hired a limited staff to produce the program. When the program was given a secondary live show on Current TV in 2011, the network provided a larger studio in Los Angeles to house its television and online broadcasts; production was forced to leave the facility after Current TV was sold to Al Jazeera, prior to the network's conversion into the now-defunct generalized news service Al Jazeera America.
In 2013, The Young Turks production staff relocated temporarily to new studio quarters at YouTube Space LA in Los Angeles. In October 2013, The Young Turks launched an Indiegogo campaign, aimed at raising $250,000 in order to build a new studio. Fundraising completed with $400,000 being raised. The program moved its production facilities and staff operations to a new studio facilities in Los Angeles later that year, with construction of their new studio being completed in June 2015. In 2017, TYT sought to expand its media network and hire more staff through various venture capital fundraising efforts that raised $20-million.
History
Radio program The Young Turks was originally developed as a radio talk show that was similar in format to a Los Angeles-based public access television program that Cenk Uygur had hosted, titled The Young Turk. With the help of friend Ben Mankiewicz (with whom he had previously worked), his childhood friend Dave Koller, and Jill Pike, Uygur began The Young Turks as a radio program in February 2002 on Sirius Satellite Radio.
In 2006, the program received attention for its 99-hour "Live on Air Filibuster," conducted during Congressional hearings for the nomination of Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court. Hosts including Thom Hartmann and John Amato filled in during the event, to allow the show's regular hosts and contributors to rest or take breaks.
Prior to signing a distribution deal to carry the program on Air America in 2006, the show was broadcast on Sirius Satellite Radio, on Sirius Left 143 and later 146, airing weekdays from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. Eastern Time; a day-behind rebroadcast of the program aired on Sirius Talk Central 148 weekday afternoons from 12:00 to 2:00 pm. Eastern. Being carried exclusively on Sirius for several years, The Young Turks was the first show to air exclusively on Sirius Left that was not distributed through a syndication network. TYT was also carried by KFH (1330 AM and 98.7 FM, now KNSS (AM) and KNSS-FM) in Wichita, Kansas each weeknight from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Central Time and webcast by RadioPower.org.
On February 2, 2009, TYT was removed from the broadcast schedule of America Left, a progressive talk channel carried on Sirius/XM Channel 167, and replaced by an additional hour of The Bill Press Show. The program returned to Sirius/XM on March 16, 2009. In late 2010, TYT announced through its Facebook page that it would discontinue carrying the program on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio; the last edition of The Young Turks to be carried on the service aired on November 19, 2010. TYT rejoined Sirius/XM in 2017 with the show being run on SiriusXM Progress.
Web series
The Young Turks was the first daily streaming online talk show, having begun airing in that format in 2006, with an official website on the internet and a channel hosted on YouTube. The show provides in-depth coverage on politics, news topics, current events, and other issues.
In August 2007, Ben Mankiewicz left the show to serve as a contributor for TMZ's syndicated entertainment news program TMZ on TV. At roughly the same time, Jill Pike left to pursue a job in Washington, D.C. Ana Kasparian, then working as an intern for the program, was hired to do pop culture-focused segments. Mankiewicz eventually returned to The Young Turks as a regular correspondent.
During the 2008 elections, the show developed close ties to Brave New Films. The program aired commercials for the independent film production company and featured actors including Robert Greenwald and Jonathan Kim as guests.
The success of TYT is due to a large extent of their shift from radio to the internet through the broadcast of programming content on online platforms. Uygur and co-host Kasparian applied a populist left branding and programming strategy that made TYT a successful global online organization, with larger numbers of YouTube subscribers and viewers than several other notable news networks like FOX, MSNBC, and CNN. The presence of TYT on YouTube has given the network a platform to democratize production of content and practices associated with its online distribution through an ability to share, comment and like material on its channel. Through likes and shares of TYT content on many online platforms, audience members have become a "virtual word of mouth" expanding the network's reach to other people with similar views and stimulating the growth of the TYT community.
Support by viewers for alternative media outlets like TYT adopting new technology has meant the network was able to overcome being a small sized organization of the traditional alternative media landscape. The emergence of TYT in the digital era has resulted in fewer operational costs regarding organizing and communication. TYT nonetheless has relied on small grassroots financial contributions from its viewers that gave it the ability to emerge as an alternative media organization that does not advocate for the interests of corporations. The financial contributions TYT received went to renting a studio, and to purchase production equipment and furniture. By 2010, TYT employed people and maintained a budget resembling the size of a small newspaper.
On July 30, 2013, The Young Turks launched a TYT Network app on Roku, which features much of the same content that is already available for free through the program's YouTube channel, which has over 4.2 million subscribers and generates 50 million monthly views. The network is among the few online channels to generate more than 1 billion views since launching on YouTube, which does not market a channel on the Roku app store. Young Turks COO Steve Oh acknowledged that making the TYT Network available on Roku was the first part of a strategy to continue the network's growth, regardless of what medium in which its viewers are watching its content, with the intent to figure out a way to monetize its programming through multiple distribution channels, rather than relying on one or two larger channels (such as YouTube or cable television distribution). The network also announced plans to unveil native apps for iOS and Android devices. Oh also said that the network's representatives were speaking with other media platforms about expanding its programming.
In April 2014, The Young Turks began offering its content on Hulu. With this, it began providing a condensed 30-minute version of the program featuring excerpts from the full two-hour daily show, along with a 30-minute weekly version of its daily pop-culture show PopTrigger, with other shows being added shortly afterward. Oh stated on the Hulu launch that, "as TYT Network has grown from a single show to an entire network, we've consistently found ways to bring our shows to more people[..] We've long admired Hulu as a leader of online video and both parties saw an opportunity to bring digitally-native politics and pop culture talk shows to Hulu's audience." He also stated that the company is pitching shows to cable network, but had no immediate plans to revive a television broadcast as either a relaunched program or a show similar in format to the one it formerly produced for Current TV.